TRACER: an 'eye-opener' to the patient experience across the transition of care in an internal medicine resident program

Tracer Methodology and the quality of care: integrative literature review

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the scientific literature about the Tracer Method in the area of nursing.

METHOD

Integrative literature review with 22 articles from the following databases: Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS); Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online(Medline/PubMed); Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO); Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Web of Science. The search strategy included descriptors and keywords, as follows: Método Tracer, Método Traçador, Método Rastreador, Método de Avaliação, Usuário Guia amd Enfermagem correlated and combined with Boolean operators.

RESULTS

Data was organized according to the scenarios where the method was applied, namely: health condition as a tracer condition for assessing the quality of care, compliance and non-compliance regarding the institutional protocols, reflection and training for accreditation.

CONCLUSION

The Tracer Methodology is used for evaluating and improving the quality of care.

Post-acute care reform: Implications and opportunities for hospitalists

Nearly all practicing hospitalists have firsthand experience discharging patients to post-acute care (PAC), which is provided by inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, or home healthcare providers. Many may not know that PAC is poised to undergo transformative change, spurred by recent legislation resulting in a range of reforms. These reforms have the potential to fundamentally reshape the relationship between hospitals and PAC providers. They have important implications for hospitalists and will open up opportunities for hospitalists to improve healthcare value. In this article, the authors explore the reasons for PAC reform and the scope of the reforms. Then they describe the implications for hospitalists and hospitalists' opportunities to Choose Wisely and improve healthcare value for the rapidly growing number of vulnerable older adults transitioning to PAC after hospital discharge.